Last Monday I took our 8 month old baby girl on a flight to Finland by myself. I was a bit worried how it will go as it was a daytime flight which meant most of the hours would be spent awake. Would she scream the whole way or would we receive unhappy states from fellow passengers?

At the airport my Manduca baby carrier was a life saver! I could carry Anna and still have my hands free to carry luggage, fill exit forms and buy snacks. I only took it off for the security check as the carrier needs to go through the checks as well. 

When we got to our seat I noticed the plane was almost full, but still the flight crew managed to arrange an empty seat next to us. Thank you for the man willing to change his seat!

I had reserved the first row seat so we could have more leg room and use the baby basket. We didn’t end up using the basket that much, except for our stuff, but I’m sure for the nighttime flight back to Guangzhou it will be very useful.

I brought a few toys for Anna, including the elephant you see in the photo, which was new for her (cousin’s toy) so it would keep her entertaint for some time.

But more than the toys she loved interacting with other passengers and luckily they liked her too. Chinese love babies, especially mixed babies!

For food she drank mostly breastmilk and some smoothies and snacks I brought with us. On my lunch tray there was salad and bread that were suitable for her as well. 

Only at the end of our flight Anna got too tired, it was 8pm Chinese time, and she cried a bit. Other than that our flight was a success! The crew was very helpful and made sure we had everything we needed so thank you Finnair.

Some tips for air travel with babies:

• Baby carriers are golden at the airport and sometimes on the plane too.
• Bring change of clothes for you and the baby. 
• Bring warm clothes as the plane can get very cold.
• Snacks for you and the baby are important too.
• Bring a new toy with different functions, but water bottles are fun as well!
• Book the baby basket seat if your baby is less than 70cm and 10kg or so. Or book it just for the extra legroom.
• Be friendly to fellow passengers, they can be super helpful!

What other tips you have for flying with a baby? Please share your experiences in the comments.

Staying at home day in day out isn’t really my thing, not even with a small baby. Even though I didn’t do the Chinese postpartum zuo yuezi, I still got bored of being at home as I was used to go around the city teaching my students. But how to go out and take your baby and all essential items with you?

In China, at least in Guangzhou, a stroller isn’t really the most convenient means of baby transport. Many metro stations aren’t really designed for baby wagons and busses are mostly impossible to get on with a stroller. Luckily I found a great and cheap answer to this problem in the form of a baby sling or baby wrap which you can see in the photo above.

A sling can be used from newborn to toddlers (depending on the sling material etc) and it leaves your hands free no matter if at home or outside. Luckily my baby has been happy with traveling in the safety of the sling, always next to me and hearing my heartbeat.

Going out with my baby here in Guangzhou has been easier than I thought. Anna gets lots of admiring glances and people are quite surprised to see that even a small baby can be carried this way. I have heard many discussions about carrying a baby while I’ve walked around the city, almost all in a very positive tone. The things people are worried about is if the baby is able to breathe freely and if the sling protects the neck well. I’ve been happy to tell that sling is a great way to carry a baby, much better than carrying in your hands.

With a small baby I’ve also encountered the need to feed my baby whenever and where ever she gets hungry. I’ve seen news about breastfeeding in China, both positive and negative comments have followed. I’m happy to notice that so far I haven’t gotten any negative comments about breastfeeding in public. I do try to feed my baby without bothering others and often people around me don’t even realize I’m breastfeeding.

In public transport I’m always given a seat when I’m carrying Anna. People have been jumping up from their seats to give me a seat. Occasionally I’ve noticed bus drivers to wait until I’m seated to continue the journey, making it thus safer for me and my baby.

So far I’ve been very happy to take Anna with me here in Guangzhou and hope that this way she will get used to going out with me. Actually I’ve noticed that on our days outside she sleeps so much better in the sling and loves exploring the view with her eyes.